“Just say aye,” Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray repeatedly pleaded to Feinstein during the vote. Eventually, Feinstein did just that.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday appeared confused and attempted to deliver a longer speech during a Senate hearing, the latest in a string of episodes that have raised further questions about her ability to continue serving in office.
“Just say aye,” Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray repeatedly pleaded with her colleague.
Instead of a short reply, Feinstein began her response by saying, “I would like to support a yes vote on this, it provides $823 billion …” As the California Democrat continued to speak, an aide also intervened to try to remind the lawmaker that this was not the time for speeches.
“OK,” Feinstein then said as Murray reminded her one final time to “just say aye.” “Aye,” she finally said.
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It’s never going to happen. She’s the deciding vote on the judiciary committee. Without her it’s deadlocked, which means no more federal judges. You can say what you want about how how terrible it is that she didn’t retire decades ago and I’ll agree with you wholeheartedly, but I’m not sure I even want her to retire if it means no more sane judges get confirmed.
In case it isn’t clear. Her Congress seat can be filled, but the committee seats she holds need to be voted on, and it can be filibustered. The GOP won’t let Dems reassigned those seats to another Dem; they’ll remain open until next session.
How are committee seats ever filled?
This is an excellent question, haha. At the start of the session, they’re voted in all at the same time. So if anyone thinks to filibuster, they’re also blocking their own seats. In fact, during normal operation, this process is done using “unanimous consent”. They don’t even bother with an actual vote because it’s always unanimous, because it’s all or nothing. If feinstein retires, the vote to fill her seats will be only for her seats.
Edit: sorry about the double post.